No free prata: Jail for third man involved in attack on Indian food stall's cook

SINGAPORE — Incensed over being denied free roti prata, three men ganged up on an Indian food stall’s cook and slashed him with a knife.

On Thursday (April 4), Balachandran Kothandapani, 59, was the last of the three to be dealt with in court for his involvement in the attack.

He was sentenced to a year behind bars, after pleading guilty last week to causing hurt with a dangerous weapon and possessing an offensive weapon.

The two other men involved in the attack have already been sentenced.

Murugan Joseph, 45, was handed 10 months and two weeks' jail, six strokes of the cane and fined S$3,000 in February; while Farizal Rahmat, 36, was jailed eight months and given six strokes of the cane last week.

The court heard that the trio would regularly ask for free food at Habib’s Express, located in a coffee shop at Block 710 Clementi West Street 2.

On July 29 last year, they began drinking alcohol at a pavilion near the coffee shop.

At about 5.15pm, Murugan and Balachandran ordered roti prata from the stall, expecting it to be free. Mr Louis Thiraviaraj, Habib’s Express’ senior supervisor, told them to pay for the prata.

Infuriated, they confronted Mr Thiraviaraj for about 13 minutes. Murugan then flung some plates on the floor before they left.

A few minutes later, Murugan returned with Farizal and demanded free food again, to no avail.

After the second confrontation, they left and returned with Balachandran 10 minutes later.

As the trio made another attempt to get free food, the stall’s cook Revi Jose Vibin intervened.

Murugan and Farizal followed Mr Revi around the vicinity of the stall and harassed him, while Balachandran left the scene and returned with a knife that had a 19cm-long blade. He handed it to Farizal, and the group confronted Mr Revi again with the weapon.

The knife was passed around among the trio until Murugan used it to slash the cook on the left side of his head, resulting in a 4cm-long laceration. Mr Revi managed to film the bloody attack with his mobile phone.

He was later warded at the National University Hospital for two days.

His medical bills totalled S$2,683, and he was given 14 days’ medical leave. No compensation has been offered to date from any of the three men.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Alexandria Shamini Joseph sought at least 12 months’ jail for Balachandran, pointing out that he had taken the knife to the scene.

As he is above 50 years old and cannot be caned, Balachandran was given three months’ jail in lieu of six strokes of the cane.

In sentencing him, District Judge Mathew Joseph called his behaviour “shocking, outrageous and totally unjustified”.

“I do not understand how you could be infuriated when you had no money to pay for food that you were asking for. This is prata — it’s not an expensive food item,” the judge told Balachandran.

“I find your conduct totally unconscionable. You are 59 years old, you are not an immature 16-year-old… this is probably the first case in Singapore where someone was slashed because free prata was not given,” he added.

For voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, Balachandran could have been jailed up to seven years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three.

For possessing an offensive weapon, he could have been jailed up to three years and given at least six strokes of the cane.